Monica's back - says Clinton lied

In the years since their bitter battle, both former President Bill Clinton and independent counsel Ken Starr have predicted they’d be vindicated in the history books.

Now the first definitive history of the Clinton scandal is about to arrive — and neither man can be completely happy about his portrayal in its pages.

Story Continued Below

“The Death of American Virtue,” due out in February, asserts that Clinton had yet another extramarital affair, with Susan McDougal of Whitewater fame. Also in the book, Monica Lewinsky tells author Ken Gormley that she believes the president lied under oath when he described their encounters.

At the same time, Gormley offers a harsh portrait of Starr as a man out of his depth and who lost all sense of proportion. His interviews offer new ammunition to critics who contend the Lewinsky investigation was marred at its outset by improper questioning of Lewinsky in January 1998 by Starr’s lieutenants, who continued to grill her even after she asked for a lawyer.

Two presidents later, the saga feels like a far-off chapter in the nation’s history, but the book makes clear that the principals, including Clinton himself, remain keenly interested in squaring the historical record to their liking.

In three interviews with the author, Clinton makes clear — to no surprise of longtime observers of the 42nd president — how aggrieved he continues to feel over the whole episode, unspooling a stream of choice invective about his other accusers. In Clinton’s telling, the head of the House impeachment team, Henry Hyde, is a “bitter right winger” and “hypocrite” and the judge who cited Clinton for civil contempt was merely currying favor with the conservative wing of the GOP.

Through 769 pages, Gormley, a Duquesne University law professor, offers a detailed, even scholarly retelling of an epic saga of grand jury depositions, fevered partisans and a single stained blue dress that once transfixed a nation — but which many Americans are surely eager to leave in the past.

Even so, the book represents an attempt by a law professor and prominent legal pundit to write what he is billing as the most complete and evenhanded account of the tumultuous criminal investigation that explored Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, nearly ended his presidency and ultimately boomeranged on Starr, staining the professional reputation of one of America’s foremost constitutional scholars.

But with one of the principals still very much in the public eye — the former president turned globe-trotting chief of his own foundation — the revelations are sure to dredge up the unpleasant details of a president and prosecutor locked in legal combat.